What is the ruling on playing chess?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question : What is the ruling on chess?
Answer : Thank you. It is eloquent. It falls under the general meaning of his statement (peace and blessings be upon him): “Every form of play that a person engages in is invalid, except for playing with his wife, playing with his horse, shooting with his bow, and learning to swim.”
The word "invalid" in this hadith does not mean a text of prohibition, but rather means, at the very least, that playing with anything other than these things and what is similar to them in aiding obedience to Allah and strengthening the body for some physical games like swimming and archery is invalid. Chess is undoubtedly not among these matters. However, on the other hand, it involves mental acuity and trains the player in methods of attacking the opponent. It may benefit the chess player just as archery benefits the archer. But when the player’s matter is finished and he becomes proficient in the game, then there is no room for excessive playing of chess except in some circumstances, such as what they call relaxation. As for being obsessed with playing chess, as we hear from some people, to the extent that it takes an hour and a half or more until one overcomes the other, this undoubtedly exposes the player to many violations of the Shari'ah, such as missing the prayer in congregation, for example, or neglecting or failing to attend to the obligations incumbent upon the player toward his wife, his children, his family, and even his people and his country. Therefore,
To put it briefly, if playing chess does not become a habit first, and does not prevent one from performing any of the obligatory duties second, then it is permissible play, even though it is invalid according to the Shari'ah. This is unless some benefits result from it, similar to the benefits that result from archery and swimming, as we mentioned at the beginning of the discussion. And whatever is reported or mentioned in some books of hadiths explicitly forbidding the playing of chess, none of that is authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). For this reason, it is obligatory for the jurist to derive the ruling on the love of playing chess from the general legal principles, and this is what we did and what we concluded from what was mentioned previously, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
Answer : Thank you. It is eloquent. It falls under the general meaning of his statement (peace and blessings be upon him): “Every form of play that a person engages in is invalid, except for playing with his wife, playing with his horse, shooting with his bow, and learning to swim.”
The word "invalid" in this hadith does not mean a text of prohibition, but rather means, at the very least, that playing with anything other than these things and what is similar to them in aiding obedience to Allah and strengthening the body for some physical games like swimming and archery is invalid. Chess is undoubtedly not among these matters. However, on the other hand, it involves mental acuity and trains the player in methods of attacking the opponent. It may benefit the chess player just as archery benefits the archer. But when the player’s matter is finished and he becomes proficient in the game, then there is no room for excessive playing of chess except in some circumstances, such as what they call relaxation. As for being obsessed with playing chess, as we hear from some people, to the extent that it takes an hour and a half or more until one overcomes the other, this undoubtedly exposes the player to many violations of the Shari'ah, such as missing the prayer in congregation, for example, or neglecting or failing to attend to the obligations incumbent upon the player toward his wife, his children, his family, and even his people and his country. Therefore,
To put it briefly, if playing chess does not become a habit first, and does not prevent one from performing any of the obligatory duties second, then it is permissible play, even though it is invalid according to the Shari'ah. This is unless some benefits result from it, similar to the benefits that result from archery and swimming, as we mentioned at the beginning of the discussion. And whatever is reported or mentioned in some books of hadiths explicitly forbidding the playing of chess, none of that is authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). For this reason, it is obligatory for the jurist to derive the ruling on the love of playing chess from the general legal principles, and this is what we did and what we concluded from what was mentioned previously, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
Source
نوادر بوابة تراث الإمام الألباني، الشريط 10 — al-albany.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.